Another day, another example of CVS not beating the vertical integration accusations.

Earlier this month, Aetna enacted a new policy for its commercial medical plans mandating drugs be supplied by third-party specialty pharmacies under CVS, the health plan’s parent company, and shipped directly to suppliers. Previously, these facilities have purchased drugs for patients independently and billed for them under a health plan’s medical benefit.

The policy, effective as of July 1, is a sign of vertical integration and puts infusion centers in a difficult financial position that could eventually lead to their closure, experts told Healthcare Brew.

Now, five drugs treating conditions like multiple sclerosis, uncontrolled asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis for Aetna patients are covered under a pharmacy benefit, meaning they will be delivered from a CVS specialty pharmacy.

An easy way to understand the challenges for infusion centers is comparing it to if customers brought their own steak to a restaurant and asked a chef to cook it, Robert Gelfand, founder and president of New York treatment facility American Infusion Centers, told us.

Find more on the policy’s potential impacts here.—CM

Occasionally, we schedule our rounds with Healthcare Brew readers. Want to be featured in an upcoming edition? Click here to introduce yourself.

We’re revamping our Making Rounds column, where we feature experts in the healthcare industry and highlight what they do, the challenges and misconceptions they face, and the parts of their jobs that bring them the most joy.

In this edition, we’re featuring dental artificial intelligence (AI) startup Overjet’s Chief Dental Officer Teresa Dolan, who oversees real-world applications of its AI platform.

This interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.

How would you describe your specific job to someone who doesn’t work in healthcare?

I oversee a team of experienced dentists who collaborate closely with our engineers, machine learning scientists, and product teams. We guide how the AI is trained and evaluated so that it can accurately detect dental disease from X-rays and data from the patient’s record. I also bring in feedback from the field. I spend a lot of time speaking with dental practices, DSOs [dental service organizations], and insurers to understand what’s working, what’s broken, and where AI can genuinely help.

Learn more about what Overjet’s doing here.—NO

Welcome back to AI 411, a monthly roundup of artificial intelligence (AI) announcements from across the healthcare industry.

Last month, we wrote about the release of Elsa, an FDA AI tool designed to summarize events and assist with safety profile assessments, label comparisons, and code for nonclinical databases. This month, news emerged that Elsa is already hallucinating studies that were never conducted, and FDA employees told CNN the tool is “unreliable.”

But wait, there’s more. Here’s your roundup of health-related AI updates from around the industry.

Abridge. Abridge, known for its AI scribe, announced on July 24 a new collaboration with New York’s Hospital for Special Surgery, named the best hospital for orthopedics in 2025–2026 by US News & World Report. Abridge’s AI platform will be used on approximately 200,000 patients yearly at the hospital to take notes for clinicians.

See the full list here.—CM